Posted
by
Soulskillon Tuesday November 23, 2010 @12:26AM
from the dodging-legal-threats-now-a-valid-gameplay-mechanic dept.

An anonymous reader writes with this quote from Eurogamer:
"Gamers who download upcoming PC exclusive The Witcher 2 illegally could receive a letter demanding they pay a fine or face legal action. If gamers refuse to pay the fine, which will be more than the cost of the game, they could end up in court, developer CD Projekt told Eurogamer. 'Of course we're not happy when people are pirating our games, so we are signing with legal firms and torrent sneaking companies,' CD Projekt co-founder Marcin Iwiski said. 'In quite a few big countries, when people are downloading it illegally they can expect a letter from a legal firm saying, "Hey, you downloaded it illegally and right now you have to pay a fine." We are totally fair, but if you decide you will not buy it legally there is a chance you'll get a letter. We are talking about it right now.' Interestingly, The Witcher 2 will be released free of digital rights management – but only through the CD Projekt-owned digital download shop GOG.com. That means owners will be able to install it as many times as they like on any number of computers – and it will not requite an internet connection to run."

Posted
by
Soulskillon Thursday October 14, 2010 @06:50AM
from the new-and-improved-ways-for-people-to-call-you-terrible dept.

RulerOf writes "Just over a year after hiring IceFrog, the lead developer of the wildly popular DotA Allstars mod for Warcraft III, and the speculation surrounding Valve's recent trademark filing for the 'DotA' name, Valve has officially announced Dota 2. Gameplay of Dota 2 is being ported 'exactly' from the current DotA Allstars and includes every hero, but vast improvements are being made to the game including VoIP, a coaching system, in-game rewards, and AI that takes over for disconnected players. Lastly, it all runs on top of the Source engine. (GameInformer's website appears to be struggling right now though, as they had an exclusive on this story.)"

Posted
by
Soulskillon Wednesday February 03, 2010 @04:33AM
from the other-perspectives dept.

An anonymous reader points out an article at SavyGamer in which several game industry veterans were polled for their opinions on DRM. Cliff Harris of Positech Games said he didn't think his decision to stop using DRM significantly affected piracy of his games, accepting it as an unavoidable fact. "Maybe a few of the more honest people now buy the game rather than pirate it, but this sort of thing is impossible to measure. You can see how many people are cracking and uploading your game, but tracking downloads is harder. It seems any game, even if it's $0.99 has a five hour demo and is DRM-free and done by a nobel-peace prize winning game design legend, will be cracked and distributed on day one by some self righteous teenager anyway. People who crack and upload games don't give a damn what you've done to placate gamers, they crack it anyway." Nihal de Silva of Direct2Drive UK said his company hasn't noticed any sales patterns indicating customers are avoiding games with DRM. Richard Wilson of TIGA feels that customers should be adequately warned before buying a game that uses DRM, but makes no bones about the opinion that the resale of used games is not something publishers should worry about.

Posted
by
timothyon Tuesday December 15, 2009 @11:50AM
from the even-superer dept.

drewtheman writes "New studies of the plumbing that feeds the Yellowstone supervolcano in Wyoming's Yellowstone National Park shows the plume and the magma chamber under the volcano are larger than first thought and contradicts claims that only shallow hot rock exists. University of Utah research professor of geophysics Robert Smith led four separate studies that verify a plume of hot and molten rock at least 410 miles deep that rises at an angle from the northwest."

Posted
by
Soulskillon Friday October 02, 2009 @01:25AM
from the yeah-i-said-it dept.

Edge Magazine is running a story about user-generated content — or rather, its failure to live up to the hype of the past few years. The author says it "turned out to be a niche. Not everyone has the chops to learn the tools, and even fewer gamers have an idea they want to see through. Instead of revolutionizing games, it merely adds another rung on the ladder from 'player' to 'game-maker.'" Instead, the games that have incorporated the concept in a fun way use what he calls "user-generated, machine-mediated content," and he points out the flexibility of Scribblenauts; the user supplies the imagination and the developer translates that to gameplay. "It shows us our reflection — however tiny, however distorted — inside our games, an experience that is guaranteed to mesmerize us. Ambitious players will still go pick up the tools and learn the languages that let them mod or make their own games; but while they're busy with that, [this system] can invigorate our content — and give us a little more of what we love: ourselves."

Posted
by
Soulskillon Wednesday September 09, 2009 @07:08AM
from the don't-have-to-have-ten-million-subs-to-succeed dept.

Karen Hertzberg writes "Ask any 10 gamers what constitutes an 'indie MMO' and you'll probably get 10 different answers. But one definition that most can agree on is that an indie game lacks the financial support of a well-funded publisher. But do smaller budgets mean greater freedom? Ten Ton Hammer asked Nathan Richardsson, Executive Producer for CCP (developers of EVE Online), and Todd Harris, Executive Producer of Global Agenda, to share their thoughts on the bright future of independent MMOG development. 'By definition a niche market is a segment that is currently underserved by the mainstream providers. So, to serve that audience a developer typically needs to deliver something really different and innovative vs. just more of the same thing available elsewhere,' says Harris. 'With a big budget there could be a temptation to cover up stale gameplay by shoveling out more content or simply pumping up the marketing hype. However, for an indie developer such as Hi-Rez Studios, the game must stand on its own merits and we find that liberating.'"

Microsoft will never ever open their source, nor are they likely to pay the full $615m fine. They might submit to the unbundling of WMP. For those who can't understand why, let me explain.

First, the source. We all know that MS will fight against this more than any other single punishment. This is what they truly don't want to have happen. You can bet that MS would be willing to go to such extreme's as pulling out of the EU market rather than supply the source. Further, the EU has no real way to actually force them to release it anyway. They can issue such an order, but if MS says no, what are they going to do? They can't legally seize the code and release it for them (at least, I don't think they can). The only way to force MS to release the code would be through the cooperation of the US, which isn't likely to happen. Regardless of whether or not the US gov agree's, as soon as the EU tries to force their hand, it becomes an EU vs US thing (guess who will win that battle).

Second, the fine. It's big. Damn big. Yes MS can technically afford it, but if nothing else, that is likely to get overturned and reduced to $100m or so.

Finally, the unbundling. If MS releases an unbundled version it will cost exactly the same as the regular version, because hey, WMP is free, right? Second, people who mistakenly buy the unbundled version are gonna be peeved when they can't find WMP and are gonna complain. Whether the Open Source/Free Software communities likes it or not, people want this software, like this software, have gotten used to this software, and most importantly, DO NOT CARE THAT THERE ARE ALTERNATIVES. Yes, thats right, they are happy using WMP and want to keep on using it. So what is ultimately going to happen? People will buy the bundled version anyway! Furthermore, MS knows this and is more likely to comply for just this reason. They've already strangled the market, so it doesn't matter anymore.